Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the feedback on last chapter, reading your words and seeing your alerts always make my days better! Also you guys seem to agree on the Castle-Beckett romance thingy so it's happening though it may be a bit slow burn! :)
This chapter opens with a bit of Matt's POV though only for a dream sequence, I hope you'll like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters.

Chapter 14

Matt was at the kindergarten, playing with trucks with Drew and Larry when Tina arrived for him. Miss White called his name and he was pretty disappointed when it wasn't his mom that stood in the door. Usually she came to pick him up nowadays. Well this week she was there every day. But he stood up anyways and said bye to the other boys and she went to Tina who greeted him with a big grin.

"Hi there Matty boy!" she ruffled his hair just like she always did.

"Hey Tina!" he said smiling up at her. "Where's my mom?" he asked while she helped him put on his jacket.

"She had work so I came to pick you up. I hope it's okay…" Tina said as she grabbed his hand, walking towards the front door.

"No, it's fine." he said, nodding. Of course, his mom worked a lot it was usual for her to have to work later.

Just as they stepped out of the kindergarten though a weird thing happened, there was something wrong with the street. Well it wasn't which it was supposed to be, Matt noticed with confusion but Tina seemed unfazed by it as she led him down the pavement. As the boy looked around more carefully he noticed that this street was actually the one that led to his mom's workplace and he looked up at Tina to see that she was smiling down at him before turning her eyes towards the window of a boutique.

They walked into the precinct where the smiley man that was always nice to Matt greeted them.

"Hello there!" he boomed out, his voice much louder than it should be but it wasn't scary.

"We came to see my mom!" Matt told him like it was a fact and he nodded with a grin and just led them to the elevator.

"Okay young man, your mother is on the fifth floor." he said and the doors slid open and the elevator was like the one in Mr. Castle's apartment building with shiny metal walls and a mirror on each side and nice red carpet. It wasn't like the elevator in his mom's workplace but he didn't mind. The buttons were lower as well so he didn't have to stretch at all to press number 5.

The next moment the doors opened and Tina squeezed his hands to get his attention as they stopped on the corridor.

"Matt you can't talk to the bad guys. Your mom will be really mad if you do!" she reminded him and he nodded but then something popped into his head.

"How will I know who's a bad guy and who's not?" he asked and Tina squatted down to be on his level.

"Look, the ones with the handcuffs on are the bad guys." she pointed each of them out in the bullpen. A tall man with a bloody head and a blonde teenager with tattoos on his arms and neck and then there was an old man who didn't have any teeth and his wrists were so thin he could almost slip out of his handcuffs. And then there was a woman sitting in a corner, crying with her cuffed hands in her laps.

"Women can be bad guys too?" he asked in surprise and Tina nodded seriously and there was a strange smile forming on her face that the longer Matt looked at it more and more seemed like a grimace, a snarl and it was scaring him.

"Sure they can!" she told him and then when he looked at her he realized she had cuffs on her wrists too which scared him even more. When she reached for him with an evil laugh he cried out and started to run from her.

"Mommy!" he cried as he ran across the bullpen towards his mom's desk. He could see her sitting there and she looked up when she heard his voice, standing up as he got next to her.

"Matt? What are you doing here?" she asked with narrowed eyebrows.

"Tina…she brought me here…but mom, she's not good…she's a bad guy…she had…handcuffs and…" he stuttered, out of breath from his running and she leaned down to cup his cheek affectionately.

"Tina? I don't get it…she isn't a bad guy..she's your babysitter, Matt." she told him in a reassuring voice.

"But mom, I saw her cuffs… and she was scary…" he felt like crying but he tried to act like a big boy.

"Matt you can't be here now. There are real bad guys here. It's dangerous…" his mom said and that was when his tears started to fall.

"Where should I go then?" he asked, sniffling.

"Oh Matt…" his mom smiled and pulled him into an unexpected hug, rubbing his back up and down comfortingly. "Come on sit here for a while…" she guided him into her chair and wiped his tears away. "I'll be back in a minute, okay?" she murmured to him and just as she stepped away from him and Matt's eyes scanned the familiar bullpen a flash caught his sight.

He turned his head there and much to his horror he saw the old man from earlier slip his hand out of his handcuffs and reach under his chair to pull out a gun.

"No! Mommy look! That bad guy…" he shouted with fear in his voice but then all words caught up in his throat when the man pointed the gun right at him.

"NO!" he heard his mom's scream just as the gun went off with a huge BAM and he saw his mom jump in front of him to shield him from the bullet. She fell to the ground with a cry of pain and he leapt from the chair to lean over her on the ground, see how she was.

"Mommy? Moom…" he shook her but she just moaned in pain, and blood was on her clothes everywhere and then as he looked up he saw that every bad guy now had a gun and they were shooting everywhere and glass was shattering and people yelled and officers fell to the ground, dead and his mom… He looked back at her and she looked so broken and so weak and he started to cry because he was so afraid and everything was loud and dark suddenly, guns fired and he thought he heard a bomb go off somewhere and his mom whimpered in pain but she forced her eyes open and looked at him.

"Matt…go, hide somewhere. Please sweetie, please Matt… you can't be hurt…" she whispered and he shook his head.

"No mommy, I need to stay with you…You are hurt, you need a doctor. I have to find Lanie." he remembered his mom's best friend and he looked around, also recalling that his mom and Lanie worked together.

"No Matt. Please, I'm begging you… RUN!" his mom croaked trying to push herself up into a sitting position. She looked him in the eye with a tearful expression and lifted a shaky hand to caress the side of his face lovingly. The moment seemed almost peaceful amidst the horror surrounding them but then it was broke by a cruel cackle from above them and as Matt's eyes snapped to the noise he gasped when he saw a gunman standing above them with a malevolent grin, his face similar to a cartoon villain's.

"Well well well…isn't this cute?" he drawled then put his finger on the trigger, pointing the gun at Matt's chest. But before he could fire Matt's mom gathered all her strength and with a cry of anguish she pushed herself on the man, knocking him to the ground. All Matt heard was the sound of the gun fired three times and then the struggling pair didn't move anymore.

"MOM! NO!" he screamed and crawled over to them, pulling at his mommy's shoulder to wake her up. "Mommy wake up! Mommy please…" he begged, tears running down his cheeks endlessly.

"Matt…" his mom's voice was lifeless and weak as her eyes fluttered open just for a second to catch a glimpse of his face. "I love you Matt…" she breathed out before her eyelids were too heavy again and she closed her eyes, not waking up again.

"NOOOO!" Matt screamed, sobs wrenching his little body as his eyes snapped open.

Kate jerked awake at the sound of Matt's cry from across the apartment. Without thinking she leapt out of her bed, rushing out of her bedroom and towards his, her heart breaking as she heard his muffled cries. His door was closed but she didn't stop for a moment, not even to knock as she pushed it open and practically ran to his side. She fell to her knees beside his bed and reached out to pull him into a tight embrace.

"Matt? Wake up honey…" she murmured into his neck, feeling his whole body tremble.

"I…I'm…up…" he wept, barely able to talk.

"It's okay…It's okay. It was just a dream…" she soothed him with quiet murmurs, rubbing his back but he only clutched her harder, his arms like a vice around her middle.

"M-mommy… mommy…" he sniffled.

"I'm here. I'm here Matt. I'm right here…" she whispered, rocking him softly.

"Don't die mommy… I… I love you!" he sobbed into her shoulder and her heart tightened painfully as her brain registered what he was saying.

"I love you too, baby. I'm right here, I'm okay. You're okay. We're safe." she told him, pulling back just an inch to look into his puffy eyes. "We are safe." she repeated, punctuating each word as it seemed to calm him just the tiniest bit.

"Mommy…" he sighed shakily, burrowing his head into her chest again as he was gasping for air.

"It's okay Matt. Shhh…" she breathed into his damp hair, squeezing him a bit.

They stayed like that for a couple more minutes, just hugging each other as Kate listened to her son's calming breaths but never for once letting go of him. After the long quiet that was interrupted by Matt's sniffle once in a while he pulled back carefully and her heart sank to her stomach, thinking he would close up again and push her away. But instead he blinked up at her with wet, shy eyes.

"I love you mommy… " he whispered in the smallest voice. "I love you. I'm sorry I was so mad, I love you!" he said, new tears rolling down his cheeks and Kate's eyes welled up too, her heart roaring in her chest.

"Oh Matt…I love you too! I'm so sorry I've been so horrible… I'm so so sorry…" she wiped his tears off with her thumbs, cupping his cheeks, laughing as her sight became blurry with her own tears.

Matt sat up in his bed and wrapped his arms around her again, this time practically trapping her head at his chest and she half laughed half cried into his belly, winding her arms around him too.

"Hey…" she murmured once they pulled apart and he looked at her which such eagerness that she was on the verge of tears once again as she realized how much she missed her little boy and his attentiveness. "Why don't you come and snuggle with me tonight?" she suggested and a smile broke free on her face at the way his eyes lit up.

"Really?" he asked, his tone taking an excited pitch.

"Yeah! You just had a nightmare, haven't you?" she asked with a conspiratorial grin.

"Yes!" he nodded, the memory clouding over his face for a moment.

"Well I think that you earned snuggles. We gotta keep the bad dreams away, right?" she asked and she let out a relieved sigh when his sadness washed away instantly. "Come on!" she urged him on, pulling off his covers and grabbing his hand as he got out of bed with a grin of his own.

They stumbled across the apartment in the darkness, silently giggling as they bumped into the couch and Matt chuckling when Kate kicked the coffee table and started jumping on one foot. They made it into her room though and jumped onto the bed, quickly pulling the thick blanket over themselves. Kate reached for Matt and pulled him towards her and the little boy settled his head on her chest as he draped his arm and leg over her.

"Goodnight, Matty." she murmured, pressing a kiss into his hair, shifting a bit to get more comfortable.

"Mom?" he asked breaking the quiet of the room and Kate turned her head to be able to see him through the dark.

"Hmm?"

"I've been thinking…" he mumbled and an involuntary, wide smile spread on Kate's lips at the sincerity in his voice. "I think it would be great if Rick and Alexis came with us." he said and there was a beat of silence as Kate processed his words and tried to make sense of them. "Mom?" he asked unsurely.

"Yeah, I'm here. I just… You mean, for our vacation?" she asked to be certain.

"Yes. It's their house and I think they would like a vacation too." he told her with the innocence of a little child.

"But Matt… it was supposed to be our holiday. Just the two of us. You and me. Don't you want that?" she asked quietly, a bit sad at the idea that he may not want to spend a few days just with her.

"Of course I want that mommy…" he chuckled like she was the child who just suggested something absolutely silly. "But I think it would be cool to go together. I like Alexis and Rick a lot. And we could still be together. You and me. "

"Oh… well I think… if this is what you want… " she whispered and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Yes I would really like it." he muttered with a smile evident in his voice.

"Okay, then I'll ask him tomorrow… Though don't get too excited, they may say no. You know Alexis has school…" she warned him and felt him nod against her chest.

"I know but I hope they'll say yes. Thanks! I love you mom!" he sighed contently and Kate's heart swelled at hearing that.

"I love you too. Sweet dreams." she whispered to him.

"Nighty night mom." he replied before he fell asleep and soon Kate was pulled under into the world of dreams as well.

And this was it! What do you think? Please review, I would love to read your opinion! :) Questions, requests, ideas and the rest are very welcome!
Thank you all for reading and I really appreciate if you take some time to write me a few words!
Next chapter will be up sometime next week since I realized that over the course of summer holiday I tend to forget about time and what day it is and so on (hence the lateness of this chapter, sorry guys) but I'll try to stick with Wednesday! :) Until then, xxx